• Four months after being deposed by a military coup, Myanmar’s former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial. She faces seven charges and decades in prison. The charges include illegally importing walkie talkies for her security guards, violating COVID-19 guidelines while campaigning, and corruption and violation of the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. Human Rights Watch called the closed-door trial “bogus and politically motivated.”
(“Myanmar Puts Suu Kyi In Trial, Critics Call Bogus,” Associated Press, June 14, 2021; “Aung San Suu Kyi Trial of Ouster Leader Begins,” BBC, June 14, 2021)
• Four years before he became New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio called for more accountability for police and new powers for the Civilian Complaint Review Board (or CCRB) which reviews police conduct. De Blasio ran and won as a progressive candidate in 2013, pledging to end stop and frisk and other abusive police tactics. However, according to internal communications obtained by ProPublica and interviews with more than two dozen current and former officials, de Blasio ended up asserting ever-more control over the CCRB.
(“City Hall Put the Kibosh on That,” ProPublica, June 11, 2021)
• Indigenous groups in northern Wisconsin and Michigan have waged a successful campaign to defend the Menominee River from a proposed open pit gold mine. The project known as the ‘Back Forty Mine’ was initially approved by Michigan officials, but the permit was later pulled by an administrative judge in January.
(“‘We Do This For Water,’ Indigenous Organizers Defend The Menominee River,” In These Times, June 10, 2021)
